“What must I do to be saved?”
This is the question that the Philippian jailer asked Paul and Silas in Acts 16:30. There are few questions more consequential. Eternal life or death hangs in the balance as we answer the question.
Paul’s answer is both simple and a clear statement relaying part of the gospel message: “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved” (Acts 16:31). Only faith in the Lord Jesus Christ can save us from our sins. Our faith grabs hold of Christ, who moves us from death to life as we trust in him.
In this article, I want to unpack what the Bible means when it says, “believe in the Lord Jesus Christ.” We know that only faith in Jesus Christ saves, but in carefully thinking through this concept, we have to ask, “What is saving faith?” Conversely, when we know what faith is, we also know what it is not.
Many of us have heard a white-hot, gospel-centered sermon ending with an impassioned altar call: “Come down front and choose Jesus.” Contemporary revivals count the number of “decisions for Christ.” An old gospel tract formatted to look like a voting ballot tells the reader, “Jesus cast his vote. Satan cast his. You must cast the deciding ballot.” But is faith in the Lord Jesus Christ like casting a ballot in a voting booth? Am I merely assenting to information for salvation? This brings us back to the question: “What is saving faith?”
While saving faith is not less than a decision, it is more than a decision. It is not marking a check box that says, “I choose Jesus.” In fact, framing it as an act of choice can make it sound like my salvation rests upon me rather than upon what Christ has done for me. Faith is an act of trust. Trust is more than merely casting a vote.
Let’s turn to several Scripture passages to help us understand what saving faith is.
In Romans 9:30-10:4, Paul contrasts the Gentiles who have believed in the Lord and received the gift of saving righteousness with the lost in Israel who were still striving to obtain righteousness through works of the Law. In 10:6, Paul describes saving faith not as an act of striving but as an act of belief in response to the proclaimed Word (of the gospel).
But the righteousness based on faith says, “Do not say in your heart, ‘Who will ascend into heaven?’” (that is, to bring Christ down) “or ‘Who will descend into the abyss?’” (that is, to bring Christ up from the dead). But what does it say? “The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart” (that is, the word of faith that we proclaim)[.] (Romans 10:6-8)
Saving faith is a response to the message that is proclaimed. The gospel message explains the death of Jesus for our sins, his burial, and his resurrection on the third day (1 Corinthians 15:3-4). Saving faith is an act of belief. We hear the message and affirm, “Yes! This is true!”
Earlier in Romans (4:16-22), Paul makes a comparison between Abraham’s faith and our faith in Jesus. Abraham was an old man who was promised a son. From a physical, human perspective, Abraham’s body was so old that it was as good as dead. Abraham was unable to produce this offspring. But when God said that he would have a son, Abraham listened and believed him. He trusted that God’s message was true and that God would do it. “In hope he believed against hope” (4:18a), and “No unbelief made him waver concerning the promise of God, but he grew strong in his faith as he gave glory to God, fully convinced that God was able to do what he had promised” (4:20-21).
Saving faith listens to the message that Jesus Christ died for our sins, and that he rose again. It recognizes that we can do nothing to save ourselves. It turns to Jesus and trusts that God alone can save, and that the only means of salvation is found in the person of Jesus Christ—through his shed blood to atone for our sins and his resurrection to give us life and justification (Romans 4:25).
Paul tells us what a person does when he or she comes to have faith in Jesus Christ:
[B]ecause, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved. For the Scripture says, “Everyone who believes in him will not be put to shame.” For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; for the same Lord is Lord of all, bestowing his riches on all who call on him. For “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.[”] (Romans 10:9-13)
A person is not saved because he or she does something. A person can be saved because Jesus Christ died for sins and rose again. The reception of salvation comes through faith in the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Think of it this way: imagine working outside on an extremely hot summer afternoon. After hours under the scorching sun, you are exhausted and sweating. You need relief and renewed energy. You stagger inside, turn on the water faucet, and duck your head under it. As the cool water rushes down your face, you slurp it in and begin quenching your thirst. Your parched throat becomes moist, and your temperature cools as you are saved from the deadly heat.
What saved you in this situation? What quenched your thirst? You are cooled because of the water. You received the water through the faucet. While I am sure we are all glad we have running water in our homes, imagine how silly it would sound to go around praising a faucet for its ability to quench your thirst. The faucet was only the means to an end. It was the water the faucet brought to you that quenched your thirst.
Likewise, we are saved because of Jesus, and we receive it through faith and trust. Our faith is an act of trust whereby we receive Jesus Christ. Jesus removes the penalty of our sins based on his shed blood and grants us perfect righteousness so that we stand before God on the basis of his resurrection for us.
My faith is not an act of striving to get to God. In this sense, it is not a “decision” in which I hold the power, and it is up to me to save myself by choosing him. My prayer of salvation is not a personal ascent into the presence of God to bring him down to me. Instead, saving faith admits, “I can’t save myself. I look to and trust Jesus Christ. He alone saves.” I ask to receive something from him that I cannot attain in my own strength.
Hopefully, this helps you understand what saving faith is and what it does in relation to Jesus Christ. Saving faith hears the true message of the gospel. It recognizes and acknowledges that this message is the truth. In response, faith trusts in the person and work of Jesus Christ. It believes, “Yes, only he can save me.” In asking for salvation, we believe that Jesus brings salvation as he promises to all who come as beggars to the foot of the cross and cry out, “Lord save me! You are my only hope!”
